2964

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

(Senate Joint Resolution 64)

A Senate Joint Resolution concerning

Values Education Commission

FOR the purpose of requesting the Governor to establish a
Commission to identify and assess ongoing programs in
morals and values education in the schools of Maryland,
if any, and to make recommendations toward the
implementation of these programs into the curriculum.

Our fellow citizens generally are greatly concerned
today by the apparent diminution of our traditional
adherence and devotion to high standards of moral and
ethical conduct. This concern is felt to pervade the areas
of both private and personal interrelationships and public
governmental activities.

Unhappily, all too often one observes or learns by
extensive publicity of breakdowns in the normal standards of
individual behavior and violations of public trust.

Although the great majority of our people are aware of
this unhappy condition, a sense of helplessness as to how to
bring about a remedy appears to have taken hold of their
consciousness. Concentrated attention to procedures which
might serve to inculcate an appreciation of and devotion to
our best values is called for. Responsibility for
formulating a broad program of values education surely rests
on the popularly elected State Legislature as well as
educators.

The obvious first problems to face are: "Where do we
begin, and how far do we go?" Our leading national thinkers,
educators, clergymen, and learning experts agree that the
elementary school is the appropriate place to start a
program of appreciation of ideals and desirable personal and
public conduct. It is at this time students develop
positive attitudes about our form of government, moral
codes, and value judgments.

The early school years are especially important because
a critical stage of development is beginning - that of
thinking in the abstract, making judgments that will form
the basis of character for the years to come.

But these concerns must be carried through to middle
school, high school, and college, and into personal and
public life. The intermediate years are times of
experimentation and value assessment; the upper years are
periods of judgment and value testing.

The total curriculum should be organized around

concepts which foster effective citizenship skills, and